Floyd "Money" Mayweather Jr (43-0) defeated Miguel Cotto (37-3) by unanimous decision in one of Mayweather's toughest fights yet on HBO pay per view Saturday night in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Early and late in the bout was when Mayweather was most effective with Cotto winning some of the middle rounds in aggressive fashion. However, the pride of Puerto Rico could not sustain enough effective aggression and Mayweather was just too accurate with hard shots in return.

In round eight, Mayweather had one of his worst rounds of his career while bullied against the ropes by Cotto. After the round, the crowd cheered as they seen the bloody face of Floyd on the screen in the arena and his nose bled much of the second half of the fight. Mayweather was battered, but never really hurt. He targeted Cotto well with left uppercuts and looping right hands staggering him late in round 12. It was a thorough win by Mayweather, but a tough one.

The fight alternated between the two as boxer and stalker in which some rounds Cotto boxed instead of constantly applying aggression. He was much better as the aggressor, but seemed to tire late and could not keep up enough effective pressure. Final scorecards were 118-110, 117-111, and 117-111. There was round by round coverage on the Fight Night Blog Facebook page.

Floyd Mayweather insisted in the post fight interview that he would fight Manny Pacquiao and that Bob Arum, Pacquiao's promoter, is the one holding up the fight, but he did not give details. It was probably the most willing I have seen Mayweather to fight him, but Manny still has to get past Timothy Bradley and hopefully there are not any other details that could halt negotiations. Mayweather also apologized to HBO's Larry Merchant for his last post fight interview rant after the Ortiz bout and seemed all of a sudden overly happy with HBO.

Miguel Cotto left the ring without doing a post fight interview and was not made available for one afterwards. For Cotto, this was most likely his last stand at an attempt to top the pound for pound ranks. He fought a valiant fight, but was just a level below Mayweather.

In the featured undercard bout, Saul "Canelo" Alvarez (40-0-1) beat up "Sugar" Shane Mosley (46-8-1) for a unanimous decision win. Canelo was not very active in the opening round, but dominated from then on out with noticeably more power on his punches than the older Mosley. Alvarez committed to every punch with dangerous intent. He alternated his defense up between shelling up and some occasional head movement.

Mosley could never rally in the fight and continued to take hard shots as the fight went on. Canelo had a strong left hook as well as an array of other power punches, but could not drop the veteran boxer. The 21 year old Canelo also demonstrated good boxing skills showing that he is more of a boxer-puncher with some power rather than a straight forward plodding power puncher. The final scorecards were 118-110, 119-109, and 119-109.

On the other televised undercards, Jessie Vargas (19-0) defeated Steve Forbes (35-11) by decision. Vargas was overly cautious pecking out a win in a bout against an aged fighter with the nickname "Two Pounds". Also in an upset, Carlos Quintana (29-3) knocked out Deandre Latimore (23-4) in round six with a left hand to the ear. Latimore came forward early, but was not cutting off the ring with Quintana boxing and circling while landing.

Floyd Mayweather weighed in at 151 lbs and Miguel Cotto at 154 lbs. Both fighters look in excellent shape as expected. They stared each other down just a couple inches apart with a smirk smile from Floyd and a stone faced Cotto. I'm hyped to see this one despite the Pacquiao fight fall out.

Fight Night Blog will be providing round by round blog posts for the Floyd Mayweather vs. Miguel Cotto HBO PPV followed by a recap later. FNB will also post the result and recap of the Canelo Alvarez vs. Shane Mosley bout. Make sure to follow Fight Night Blog for updates on this PPV and other main events.

Elite pound for pound fighter Floyd Mayweather Jr (42-0) faces Miguel Cotto (37-2) for the WBA junior middleweight championship on May 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on HBO pay per view. Mayweather is a 6-1 favorite, but Cotto is definitely a worthy opponent. The Puerto Rican star has won three bouts in a row including against Antonio Margarito, Ricardo Mayorga, and Yuri Foreman after losing by 12th round TKO to Manny Pacquiao in November 2009.

For Mayweather, after he defeated experienced fighters Juan Manuel Marquez and Shane Mosley he knocked out his last opponent Victor Ortiz in a bout that ended strangely with a kiss, hug, and Mayweather knocking out Ortiz after an apologetic embrace. Mayweather needs this win to keep profiting off of his dominance and legacy as well as the always looming possibility of a superfight with Manny Pacquiao.

This is another chance for Cotto to climb the pound for pound rankings after his crushing loss to Pacquiao and a win against Mayweather would do more than enough to warrant a rematch with Pacman. It will all depend how much of his recent performances were a mirage or were the real Cotto since his last bouts were against previously injured and old fighters; Margarito (eye), Foreman (knee), and Mayorga.

We know that Mayweather will be fighting the real Cotto. It should make for a good match up with Mayweather willing to fight more in recent bouts and Cotto fighting at a higher weight than against Pacquiao. Does Cotto have a chance? Yes and more than a puncher's chance, but the stars will still have to align just right. Mayweather should still dominate the fight, but if he has slowed down any then this may be just the right time for Cotto to have a chance to beat Money and continue to make more big money.